The invention relates to an athletic outfit which includes is one or more garments an is made of an elastic material or a material combination which is permeable to steam and is preferably impermeable to water drops.
Various athletic outfits are worn both as clothing and as protection against falling or similar accidents. Examples of sports in which garments such as trousers, blouse and overalls act as protection are motor racing, downhill skiing, yachting, etc. In competitive sports in particular, such as downhill racing, yacht racing, enduro or motorcross, certain body portions, such as various joints, shoulders, thighs, etc, have to be protected against blows or rubbing by means of shock absorbers.
It is well-known to provide an athletic outfit with separate detachable pads and support belts as well as seat cushions and the like attached to the inside of the outfit by VELCRO.RTM. hook and loop tapes, for instance. A drawback of such pads is that they are inconvenient in use, in addition to which the pads may be detached or they can move away from their proper position, especially during strain and movement of longer duration. This, of course, impairs the protective effect of the pad, which may hamper athletic performance and cause additional problems in case of accident.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,407 further discloses a protective athletic outfit of elastic basic material to which elastic shock-absorbing pads are attached. The pads are placed in openings made in the basic material and attached to it in such a manner that part of the cloth layer protecting the wearer consists solely of the pads. A drawback of this solution is that the protective outfit has to be designed separately for each specific sport. Indeed one sport max involve different requirements; for instance, ordinary downhill skiing requires less protection than downhill racing. This implies that the pads have to be of predetermined kind and design and pads of different kinds cannot be used with one and the same outfit with varying requirements.